


Timeless

by Curiosity_at_its_finest



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, M/M, Marauders, jily, modern!jily, muggle!jily, singledad!james, singleparents!james, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 22:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curiosity_at_its_finest/pseuds/Curiosity_at_its_finest
Summary: In which James is a single dad who's way too infatuated with his daughter, Harriet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking of making this a multi-chapter snippet but I'm not sure just yet, leave a comment if you think I should or should not.

2h27 am

James could hear crying from the other room, the sounds of his little 1-year-old daughter were the causes of many late nights and early mornings. As he dragged himself out of bed, knocking into every piece of furniture along the way he entered the nursery where his crying daughter await. Gently wrapping Harriet in her blanket and taking her in his arms, he moved quietly to the rocking chair trying to soothe her cries as to not wake up Moony and Padfoot.

“Shh there there little one, what got you all worked up,” James asked gently, slowly rocking her in the chair trying desperately not to fall asleep. 

Once Harriet realized she was in her dad’s arms, her crying ceased immediately and she began giggling. Wiggling around in her blanket excited to see her father had gotten up for her. 

“Da-ee!’

“Hello there my little troublemaker,” James said, “ it’s a bit early to start the day don’t you think?”

Harry, not having a clue what her father was talking about, simply giggled even more, reaching her tiny little hands out to grab James’ glasses. 

“Da-ee!”

“Alright Trouble.” 

9h44 am

James was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, Harriet in her high chair babbling happily when Remus walked into the room. Harriet started giggling madly upon seeing her uncle Moony, splashing her breakfast everywhere creating a complete mess.

“Un’le Moo’ey!”

“Oh! Fu- Goodness Harry!” Remus corrected quickly after seeing James ‘don’t you fucking dare’ dad glare, fetching a rag he quickly cleaned up the mess.

“Un’le Moo’ey up! Up!”

“Yes yes it’s good to see you two.” Remus picked up Harry, placing kisses all over her faces making her laugh.

When Remus saw the bags under Jame’s eyes, which were big enough to go to Tesco and back, he already knew he’s been up for a while. 

“Early morning?” 

“I don’t know what sleep schedules she’s on but it seems her mornings start at 2h30″ James yawned. 

“Oh Harry! Did you get your dad up early again?” Remus looked at Harriet, who was babbling and gurgling innocently at him. 

“Da-ee?”

“Great gods how can anyone stay mad at you for long cutie?” Remus said, then blew a raspberry on her cheek, causing Harriet to shriek in giggles. 

“Is Padfoot up yet?” James asked, picking up his daughter and cradling her in his chest. The sight probably could have made the coldest of heart melt a little. Harriet looked exactly like her father, down to the very last freckle, save for the eyes, while James had hazel eyes that reflected gold, his daughter had beautiful emerald eyes. 

Remus smiled fondly at the pair. “He was dead asleep when I woke up, I doubt you’ll have any success getting him up now unless you want a lamp chucked at you.” He couldn’t help smiling even more at the thought of his crazy boyfriend. 

“What if we send Harry to wake him up?” James lifted Harry up so they were eye to eye, she looked back at him curiously then waved her arms around excitedly. “PaFoo!!”

“See! She wants her Uncle Padfoot! Don’t cha little nugget!” 

“PaFoo! PaFoo!” 

11h15 am

Sirus woke up to a small little bundle struggling crawl on to him. He chuckles softly, knowing exactly that his goddaughter was sent to wake him up. Picking her up, he set her down on his stomach while Harry happily cuddled into him.

“PaFoo!” 

“Prongslet!” Sirius said brightly, wrapping his large arms around the tiny child, he was never known to be a morning person, but trust little Harriet to be able to get him in a good mood. 

James poked his head in the doorway “Is it safe to come in?”

“Yes Prongs, you can come in” Sirius rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics. I mean sure he was cranky sometime in the morning, but they didn’t have to fear bodily injuries out of him. You chuck a chair at someone once and you’re labeled for life! 

James bounces into the room, hopping on the bed smiling widely when Harry giggled. She was always smiling and laughing which reassured James that he was doing something right, on the rare occasions that Harriet did cry, it was either something that frightened her, when she was sick or when she’s in a mood and feels like destroying everything around her. 

“So whats on the agenda today mate? Anything exciting?” Siris asked while picking up Harry and playing helicopter. 

“Nothing you’d be interested in, just need to go run a couple errands for this little one, she’s growing out of her clothes so quickly. You’re welcome to join if you want, Regulus might be joining us along the way, if not tonight.” 

“I honestly doubt you’ll get Mr. Lazy over here to do anything today,” The brothers turned there head to see Remus walk in, flopping on the bed and cuddling next to Sirius “Everyone knows you don’t generally do social interactions on weekends… or ever” 

“I do so!” Sirius put Harriet back down on the bed and turned to face his boyfriend “I’m perfectly capable of going out on a weekend to pick out clothes for my goddaughter!” 

Remus just chuckled and gave him a quick peck on the lips cuddling into his side, “Sure babe whatever you say” 

Sirius, who wasn’t having any of this, proclaimed “Just watch! I’ll find the cutest fucking outfit for Prongslet to wear an then both of you can shove our opinions up your arse!”

2h06 pm

“Can we go home yet!” 

“Sirius, don’t get me wrong, I love you to bits, but please shut up.” They had been listening to Sirius whine for over an hours and Remus was getting tired. They had gone exploring the downtown area they lived in for some pretty basic things, nothing too extravagant, and Sirius was just dying for something adventurous to happen. 

“Alright, let’s try to avoid murdering each other in front of Harry, you can go at each other all you want once we’re back at the flat.” James said, readjusting Harriet in his arms, she never really liked the stroller, she preferred to be in her dad’s arms. 

Remus and Sirius rolled there eyes, Prongs had always been the mother hen of the group and it only increased once Harriet was born. He was always the one to make sure they ate enough, got home safely, weren’t sleep deprived and just generally took care of them even if he always denied it.

“OH LOOK!” Remus exclaimed, frantically trashing his arm in the direction of a bookstore. 

“No Rem, you have enough books and novels at home that you haven’t even read yet! you don’t need anymore!” Sirius yelled trying to pull his boyfriend back into the direction of the flat. 

2h07 pm 

Sirius had lost his boyfriend to the trashy novel section within the first 10 seconds of walking into the bookstore. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he told James to just call him when he was ready to leave, then head of in the direction his Moony ran off to. 

James just laughed, the two of them were a perfect pair for each other. With Harriet still securely tucked in his chest, he started to walk down the shelves of books. He tried focusing on the titles of the books but his mind kept wandering back to Sirius and Remus’s relationship. So much trust and love and honestly, between the two it made his heart swell with just a little bit of jealousy. There was a time where he thought he had the same, with Harriet’s mum, but that proved to be a complete disaster in the end. Just the thought of her made white-hot anger pierce through him, what she did was unforgivable an- Ompff!

“Shit I’m so sorry! I didn't’ even see you there!” He apologized 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it”

James looked down and was met with a pair of brilliant emerald eyes. Possibly the most vibrant and spectacular eyes James had ever seen in his life, he knew these eyes, where has he seen those eyes? 

At that moment, Harry woke from her little slumber and started to whine, then the whining turned into crying and crying turned into wailing. 

“Ah shit, Harry, come on nugget please don’t cry” The moment Harry had started crying, he received dirty looks from other customers, which was understandable for being in a bookstore but still, they could lay off a bit. The beautiful stranger seems to have the same idea.

“Oi! Lay off, will you! You lot are acting like you’ve never heard a baby cry! Get back to your lives!” She said with such confidence, James couldn’t help but admire her. Once he realized he’d been staring at her for a bit longer than necessary, he focused his attention back to his daughter who was looking at the father with her big green eyes, filled with confused and frightened tears.

“Hey there baby girl,” He cooed lightly, “its okay, you’re okay, just a bit of a bump is all” 

But Harry’s attention was soon diverted to the strange lady with the bright red hair and the pretty eyes. Harriet had never seen a lady with flaming red hair and was very curious as to what it felt like. 

“Hi there little one, what’s your name?”

Without missing a beat Harry said “Twou-ble!”

The young woman looked surprised at first, then looked to James for an explanation.

“Actually it’s Harriet, ‘Trouble’ is just one of her many, many nicknames” James explained, trying to keep a very hyper Harriet from pulling the hair of the nice lady. “I’m James by the way, I would shake your hand but I,m afraid id drop her in the process.” 

“James? As in James Potter?” A series of emotion passed the woman’s face, first surprise, confusion, excitement and a fourth one that was gone before it arrived. 

Now James wasn’t famous in any shape or form, He owned a small company on top of the one he co-worked with his father, but that’s hardly anything to become famous for. 

“Um yes? I’m sorry if this sounds rude but do we know each other?”

“James, it’s me! Lily! Lily Evans?!” The young girl seemed upset by the fact that he didn’t recognize her.

“Holy buggering shit” His jaw dropped and harry nearly did too. 

Standing in front of him was his high school crush Lily Evans, only this wasn’t Lily Evans. The Lily from school always had her hair either in plates or a ponytail, this woman had her hair in loose curls, going down to her shoulders. The Lily Evans from school would rather die than wear a leather jacket, yet this woman was wearing one AND combat boots! James also noticed a slight hint of makeup, the Lily Evans from school never wore makeup, always advertising natural beautify over artificial. 

There’s no way in hell this woman was Lily Evans.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even recognize you! But you look practically the same! The baby, the baby is what put me off, I mean who would have thought James Potter, one of the schools most notorious bad boy become a dad! That’s just crazy!” Lily was rambling, when she saw the cute bloke holding a baby she caved and wanted an excuse to talk to him. Not for the fact that she wanted to chat up a bloke who was probably taken, but for the fact that the baby he was holding was the cutest damn thing Lily had ever seen. All curled up in her blanket, sleeping peacefully in her dad’s arms. 

“Ug, hi? It’s um, It’s nice to see you again, you look great.” James was panicking, his high school crush was seeing him with a baby, most people he went to Hogwarts with would judge him when they found out he had a daughter, believing he was just as irresponsible as he was in school. Lily had never liked him in school, she could hardly tolerate being in the same room as him and whenever she did talk to him it was to yell at him. Granted he deserved every bit of it, he had been a complete prat in school, but he was older now, he grew out of it. Still, he was unsure of how Lily would react to seeing him with Harry, most parents gave disapproving glares, what would Lily say? 

“Oh ya! I travel a lot for the company I work for and it’s not very practical to travel in dresses and skirts so I changed it up a bit!” When she gave him a twirl, James’s heart skipped a few beats. 

“It suits you” Was all James was able to get out.

If Lily had noticed his slight discomfort she didn’t mention it, instead diverted her attention back to Harriet, who was still trying to make a reach for her hair. 

“And you said this cutie was Harriet, didn’t you? Oh, she’s absolutely adorable! And she looks so much like you! Only the- “

“Eyes, ya, she doesn’t have my eyes” James had heard it a million times from strangers and he never knew how to reply to them.

“I’m assuming she gets them from her mother?”

It’s a normal assumption, an assumption people make all the time. But Harriet’s eyes were nothing like those of her mother, her mother had cold, dead, eye filled with hate and bitterness. Harriet had big emerald eyes filled to the brim with excitement and curiosity. 

“No. Actually, I don’t know whose eyes she’s got but their certainly not her mother’s.” James said with more bitterness then he would have liked.

Harry, bless her little soul, saw that her dad was making angry faces and pulled her hands up to try and pat his cheek. The action may have been small but it was enough to light up James’ whole world. Feeling a little better, he looked up to Lily, who was watching the two with a fond smile. 

“Why don’t we catch up a bit, I think I saw a tea place next door.”

3h32 pm

Sirius found James and Harry in a coffee shop, happily chatting with a certain lily flower that Sirius hadn’t seen in years. After bribing his boyfriend with coffee and a promise to come back within the next week, he sent James a text asking where to meet up, when he responded with ‘The coffee place next door’ he didn't’ think much of it. 

“Moo’ey! PaFoo!” A little voice cried out, Sirius immediate grinned, he would never get tired of hearing his little goddaughters voice. 

“Hello there Prongslet! And Prongs of course, Oh! and a Lily Flower!” Sirius plopped in the chair next to James, cooing at Harry who was happily tucked in her blanket in James’ arms, reaching out to him. 

“Lily! It’s so good to see you again!” Remus said, hugging Lily tightly.

“Remus I saw you just last week!” Lily laughed but hugged him anyway.

Remus and Lily were had been friends throughout there school years and enjoyed keeping touch despite there busy schedule. They sometimes hung out at small cafes or bookstores, all that cliches junk you know they do.

‘Remus how come you never mentioned James had a daughter!” Lily had been kept small updates from time to time when they had the chance to meet up, but never once did he ever mentioned James had a kid! Although he did mention a Harriet once or twice, Lily just assumed it was probably James’ girlfriend. 

“What? Are you kidding?! I talk about Harry all the time! How can I not?! Just look at her” Remus pointed to Harriet, who was now giggling at the silly faces Sirius was making, waving her little arms around. 

Oh… Harriet was the daughter, not the girlfriend. 

“Oh” Was all Lily said, blushing slightly at the mistake, whenever Remus mentioned a Harriet, sparks of jealousy would light in the pit of her stomach. She tried to ignore them, tried to just push them to the side, but no matter what anytime Remus mentioned Harriet, they would come back. 

During the last couple years of schooling, Lily had developed a small crush on the Potter boy. He had matured greatly over the summer and not just physically. He stopped bullying younger students and his pranks became more playful then hurtful. The only thing was that he completely ignored her. He had walked up to her at the beginning of the school year and apologized for his constant harassment, after that he hardly even looked at her. Lily had tried to get his attention back, partnered with him in projects, attempted flirting with him, but nothing worked! 

Now, 4 years later, here his is! Infront of her! With a baby! 

Lily was broken out of her thought when Sirius barked out laughing.

“You though. Baby Harry. Was James’. Girlfriend” He wheezed out between breaths.

“I never said that!” Lily tried defending herself but she was pretty sure the red blush creeping up on her ear gave her away.

“Lil’s, I’m sorry but the look on your face kind of gives you away,” Remus said, chuckling slightly. 

“Oh shove of both of you!” The redhead said exasperated, she turned to James for comfort and/or support only to find him staring at the daughter, not paying attention to anything around him. 

‘Oh gosh’ Lily though looking at Harriet ‘How am I going to compete with that?!’

8h25 pm

James had just managed to put Harriet to bed, she never liked being far from her dad for long so bedtime was always a bit tricky but they always managed. James would rock her gently in the chair until she fell asleep, always taking a couple minutes to admire how beautiful his little baby was before slowly placing her in her crib and silently exciting the room. 

He walked over to the living room, the day’s events playing over in his head like a broken record, when Harriet started to cry again.

**Insert exasperated sigh from James here** 

“Just leave her Prongs, she needs to get used to being apart from you anyway, might as well start now,” Sirius said from his spot on the couch. He loved his goddaughter to bits but she had to get used to being apart from James for more than 10 seconds! 

“Here, why don’t you sit down, I’ll go calm her down,” Regulus said from the kitchen. He was one of the very few people Harriet was comfortable being around since he was the one to deliver her into the world. It wasn’t exactly in the best circumstances and probably in the worse location possible, but everything was alright now, Harriet was where she belonged, away from that batshit crazy women. 

Regulus looked back to James only to see that he was already back in Harry’s nursery, gently rocking her in the chair making soothing sounds. 

Chuckling lightly, Regulus made his way to the couch where Remus and his brother were cuddling. 

“Do you think he’ll ever get out of that faze he’s in” Regulus questioned, turning to Remus and Sirius.

“Look at him Regulus, he’s hopeless. He’ll never stop loving Harriet, therefore will never grow out of the “atomic dad faze’” Sirus said, turning his head towards the nursery door. “But then again, when you consider what happened and how long Jame’s waited to finally meat lil Harry, can you really blame him?”

“No, you really can’t. Not after everything they’ve been through”, Remus whispered quietly, cuddling further into his boyfriend.

A comfortable silence fell upon the group, while Remus was slowly dozing off, Sirus hands playing in his hair, Regulus’ mind went back to that fateful day, when James’ finally got to hold his baby girl. It was back when Regulus was still a Death Eater, his parents had pressured him into joining ever since Sirius ran away. Regulus hated every minute of it, the kidnappings, the drug trading, all of it, so he sabotaged it. He used every chance he got to stop rallyings, drug trades and killings. Everything in his power to make sure fewer people died, granted he nearly got caught a few times…okay many times but it was worth it. So when she came to the warehouse one day, obviously pregnant and incredibly sick, Regulus made sure to watch over her because there’s no way in hell he would let an innocent unborn baby die because of her mistakes. He would do little things that would help her, like switching her drinks from vodka to water, mixed with some sleeping pills to make it seem like she was drunk. 

Those little things helped greatly, while he couldn’t flat out disclose the location of the warehouse, he left subtle hints for the police to find. In the end, it worked, while he did have to deliver a baby, which is still the scariest things he’s ever done because ‘holy shit, don’t drop it’, it was worth seeing the look on James’ face when he’ got to hold his daughter for the first time. 

9h31 pm

Lily had been passing up and down her flat for about an hour now, over analyzing the day’s events in her head to the point it gave her a headache.

After one more lap around the small living room, she flopped down on the sofa- bed and sighed in frustration. During the small reunion, Lily had tried to chat with James a bit but he was hardly paying attention to her, always looking down at his daughter. Granted she was adorable and Lily had no right to be jealous of a baby’s but she couldn’t help feel a little rejected.

She chatted with Remus and Sirius for and a bit, trying to get James to participate as well. No use. He was entirely to captivated by the giggling ball of fluff in his arms and who could blame him? She was bloody adorable! She had seen first hand what Remus meant when he told her James was absolutely infatuated with Harry and that she had more luck shaving off Sirius’ hair then getting his attention when he’s in ‘Dad Mode’. 

With another frustrated huff, Lily tried to take her mind off the situation with a good book. Yes, a good book and some tea would solve everything.

Until her roommate came blaring through the door. 

Jumping from the sounds of the door slamming open, Lily lifted her head in time to see her flatmate attempting to enter through the door with about 10 grocery bags. 

“You know it wouldn’t kill you to make two trips, right?” Lily said, laughing from her spot on the sofa.

“You know it wouldn’t kill you to help me!” Marlene snapped back.

Rolling her eyes, Lily got up from her cozy nest and went to help Marlene lug the stuff into the room. After putting everything away (Marlene stuffing everything in the cabinets until Lily got annoyed and organize everything herself) Marlene turned to her friend but paused. Lily had a look.

“You alright? You got a look on your face that’s telling me something interesting happened today” 

“You’ll never guess who I ran into today,” Marlene turned to Lily, who flopped back on the sofa.

“Who?” Marlene asked, here curiously getting the best of her.

“Do you remember James Potter? From Hogwarts?”

“Lily darling…. are you forgetting James and I are cousins? Well, second cousins?” Marlene asked, she never really talked to Lily about James, even if she did spend around 50% of her time at his flat. 

“Oh…. right, well I ran into him today as well as Remus, Sirius and… Harriet.”

“You saw Harriet!! Oh my gosh isn’t she the cutest little bean!!” Marlene started gushing and ranting over the cuteness of the baby, pulling out pictures on her phone and telling the story of that one time James was stupid enough to allow her to babysit.

“And that’s how I lost Harriet for over an hour and then found her in the company of many, many grandmothers pinching her cheeks”

“Wait so you knew James had a kid!? And you didn’t tell me?!” Lily was up again, passing the length of her living room.

“I didn’t think you would care, you made it very clear throughout our Hogwarts years that you hated him” Marlene looked at Lily strangely, she had never cared for James at all, so what’s with the sudden change? “Look, Lily, if I’m being going to be honest with you, I was a bit scared of you two meeting again”

“Scared? Why the hell would you be scared of us meeting? Is it because of Harriet?” Lily looked confused and a bit offended, why on earth would she be scared of her and James meeting again?

Marlene got up and opened the covers to grab some whiskey, “Alright listen, Lily, if anything can set me off it’s people judging James for the mistakes he made as a teenager so just listen to me for a few seconds. After Hogwarts, James became really anxious and nervous all the time, Sirius, Remus and I tried pushing him to see a doctor about it but that would just make him even more nervous. We couldn’t understand how James went from acting all cocky and arrogant to being a nervous wreck.”

“Wait so-“ Lily tried to speak but was cut off by Marlene.

“I’m not finished. When James started seeing her, Harriet’s mother, everything went downhill. James would give her everything she asked for, money, attention, anything and it was awful. She would use James’ money for drugs, cigarettes, liquor, god it was awful the amount of shit she consumed. Used him for her own advantage and made James believe he was worthless, she did, bloody bitch”

“Who’s ‘her’” Lily questioned, quoting the word ‘her’ in bunny ears.

“We don’t speak her name, she’s dead and that’s all there is to it” Marlene had a murderess look on her face that sent a shiver down her’s spine, whoever this woman was, Lily knew better than to question further, that look in Marlen’s eyes was something above terrifying. 

“A bunch of crap happened while those two were dating and honestly I don’t think James will ever fully recover from what she did. When he did try to get his shit together and break up with her, she burnt down the building, this bitch was crazy. Literally, she was one of those Death Eaters that enjoys killing other people for shits and giggles.”

Lily looked horrified, why the hell would James ever date someone like that!? The James she remembered would never have dated a Death Eater, he always stood up against those types of people, what happened to him? How the hell had she not heard of any of this, sure she traveled a bit here and there for work but she was still in London more times than not, how did this escape her. 

“Anyway to sum up the rest of it, cause this story makes me depressed and I don’t have enough whiskey for this, all residences of the building were sent to the hospital, including her and James. Sometime later the doctors told him that the bitch was pregnant, had been for 4 months. A week later she goes missing, escaped from the hospital thanks to a couple other Death Eaters.”

 

“What happened after!? The baby?! Harriet!? What!! I’m so confused, if she had been an active smoker and drinker how did Harry survive, what happened after she went missing!? She-“ Lily was cut off again by Marlene, who grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

“Easy there Lils, I’m not sure exactly what happened afterward, any time we tried to pry it out of James, he would get this really sickening look and would completely avoid the question. I know Regulus has something to do with it though, you remember Regulus Black? Sirius’ little brother? Anyway, I think he helped the police track her down or something like that, all I know is that he and James have been really close since the incident.”

Lily had to sit down again, she still didn’t the understand why Marlene was telling her all this but she was glad she did. She never would have imagined all the pain James went through in such a short amount of time.

“Wow… how come I never knew of this, both you and Remus are friends with him, how come neither of you shared this with me?”

“I can’t speak for Remus, but I’m sure it’s something similar to my reason. A lot of people judge James for being 22 and a dad, the people who knew him in school think that he grew up to be as arrogant and irresponsible as he was at Hogwarts, but he’s not. He could have easily left Harriet at an adoption home, or worse he could have never bothered to look for her and left her to die, but he didn’t. Jame spent 5 bleeding months looking for his daughter, even when everyone told him it was pointless. He took her in like a responsible father and nurtured her back to health even when the doctors told him she wouldn’t live. He works day and night just to provide for her, to make sure she never has to work for anything and yet people still think he’s a terrible person.” Marlene was looking into space now, her mind wondering back to James and Harriet, how could people possibly think James was a bad person just become he was a prat at 15, it didn’t make sense to her.

Lily looked at Marlene carefully for a few seconds “You didn’t t tell me because you though my I would judge him like I did in school…” 

“Can you really blame me?” She questioned simply, taking another sip of whiskey. “Well I don’t know about you but I feel depressed as shit so I’m going to drink the rest of this, eat some junk food and watch Disney movies, you want to join?”

Lily looked down at where her phone was laying, remembering the phone number she had asked Remus for “ I’ll be with you in a minute… I need to make a phone call.” 

10h05

James had accidentally fallen asleep on the rocking chair, his little Harriet still sleeping peacefully in his arms when his phone started ringing. Waking up with a jump, James’ made a grab for his phone before it woke up Harriet, who stirred slightly when he jumped. Looking down at the unknown caller number, he answered the phone, bringing it to his ear.

“Hello?” he yawned. 

“Hey, James? It’s Lily.”

“Evans? What are you- why are you calling me at 10 o’ clock?”

“Sorry, I didn’t think you would be asleep by now, I can call back another time if you want?”

“No! No, sorry that was rude, I just meant was there a specific reason you were calling me for, like an emergency or something.” 

“Actually, I was just calling to see if you were busy this weekend? Maybe we could meet up again, you know, just the two of us?” 

James looked down at the Phone weirdly, was she asking him out? He internally laughed, Lily Evans would never willingly ask him out. He was probably just sleep deprived and misheard what she said but he asked anyway just to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. 

“Are you asking me out on a date Evans?” He asked, mischief lacing his voice. 

“Ya, I am Potter,” she replied with just as much mischief and cockiness as him “So? Are you free or not this weekend?”

Grinning madly, James replied,

“There’s always time for a certain Lily flower in my schedule” 

 

The end!…. I think?


	2. First Prank and Big Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which James questions his choice of friends and refuses to accept that Harriet will eventually grow up.

3h03 am

James woke up to his 2-year-old daughter climbing on his bed for the 3rd time that night. Harriet was at the age where she was able to escape the toddler barriers he put up on her nursery door to stop her from getting up at night, which was a small problem for James. She absolutely hated sleeping without her dad and would throw the biggest fits when it came to bedtime without him. 

Signing, James rolled over on his back just in time to see a mop of curly black hair identical to his poke out from the edge of the bed. He chuckled slightly when she finally managed to climb up and crawled her way to sit on his chest.

“Daddy!” Harriet cheered, happy to have found her dad in the mess of pillows and blankets.

“Hello there my little Troublemaker, what are you doing out of bed?” He smiled, he wasn’t mad at her, not at all, he was more exasperated with himself for making such a stubborn little girl.

“I stay Daddy!” she said, curling up in her usual spot on his chest, right under his chin.

“You’re going to stay with me tonight? But I thought big girls slept in their big girl bed” James tried. Usually, the statement worked the first couple times, but after a while, Harriet stopped caring about being a “big girl” and instead chose to stay with James. 

“Stay!” Harriet cried and stubbornly clung to her dad.

“Alright Trouble” He whispered, running his hand through her curls and giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. 

5h55 am

“Play!”

James groaned as he was once again awoken by his daughter's demands.

“In a minute Trouble, daddy wants to sleep a little more” He mumbled in his pillow, trying to block out the morning sun.

“Daddy play!” 

“Daddy doesn't want to play right now pumpkin” He tried negotiating, but if his daughter was as stubborn as he was (and she was) then he knew there was no point in it. 

He felt Harry shift around in the covers until it was silent. For some reason, he assumed his hyperactive 2-year-old just fell back asleep. So he closed his eyes and started dozing off again until he smacked in the head with a pillow.

“Prongsyyy”

“Daddy!”

“Go away” James said stubbornly and tried to hide in his covers. 

“Well, that’s not a very nice to say, isn't that right Prongslet?” Sirus asked, looking down at his goddaughter who was curiously staring at the lump of covers James was hiding in. 

“Play! I want play!” Harriet cried, climbing up on the bed (with some help from Uncle Siri) and sat on the lump of human known as her father.

“I don’t think you’re going to win this one mate, she seems pretty determined to get you up” Sirius laughed flopping onto the bed, purposefully landing on James.

“Get off me you fat mutt!” said, pocking his head out from under the covers. He really shouldn’t have done. The first thing he saw was a pair of big, green emerald eyes practically staring into his soul. 

‘Ah shit’ James thought 

“Hello there Princess,” he said, ruffling her hair to make it stick out even more “I heard you want to play?” 

“Ya! Play! Daddy come play!” There was an undeniable spark in the little girl's eyes and James couldn’t find it in himself to say no.

So he got up despite his body screaming in protest and let himself be dragged away by Harriet into the nursery with a sniggering Sirius behind him.

“Hey sweety, I think Uncle Padfoot wants to play too!” If James was going down he was dragging Sirius with him. 

“Padfoot play!” By now Harriet was beyond excited, two of her favourite people were willing to play with her! 

Sirus, of course, practically being a child himself, didn’t mind one bit playing with his precious goddaughter. He got play with Harriet and take the complete piss out of a sleep-deprived James, what better way to start the day?

8h20

When Remus woke up that morning he was expecting to find his sleep obsessed boyfriend next to him but was surprised to see no one else in the room. 

‘Oh god’ Remus thought ‘what kind of trouble is he creating’

The only time Sirius Black/Potter ever got up before 10h00 was to either help James with Harriet or to go wreak havoc in the lives of innocent locals. He assumed it was the later since he didn’t hear Harriet’s laugh echo in the flat. 

Sighing, Remus rolled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen hoping someone had already started the kettle but not before stopping in front of Harriet nursery. He could hear odd snickering from behind the door, what in blazing hell...

“Sirius?”

“Shhh you’ll wake him”

“What are you- Oh god.”

Remus looked down to where Harriet was sitting next to her sleeping father, happily drawing all over his face with whatever marker Sirius had given her. Probably permanent by the smell of it. He looked to Sirius in hopes of an explanation only to find him filming the whole thing with a huge shit eating grin on his face.

“Someone looks pleased with themselves” Just as he said that Harriet giggled and clapped her hands, finishing her artwork.

“Moony you don’t understand! This is Prongslet’s first official prank! Someone needs to be filming this historical moment! And since James is passed out and you just woke up, who else was going to do it?!” Sirius exclaimed, holding up his phone capturing the moment forever.

Remus didn’t feel like replying, it was too early for human interaction, instead, he just flopped on the floor and curled into Sirius’ side, watching the unavoidable chaos unfold before him.

“You are aware he’s going to kill you for giving her those markers, right? Remus asked, looking up to his boyfriend.

“I know, oh look!! He’s waking up!”

8h24

Harriet’s giggling is what woke James from his nap and even before opening his eyes, he knew he was in trouble. After two years of living his little troublemaker, he was able to distinguish which laughs were of amusement, excitement, confusion and other. While some differences were faint, James could hear them, and the laugh she was giving him right now was something he was far too familiar with. 

That was a laugh of pure and undeniable mischief.

Groaning, James sat up and patted around for his glasses on the soft carpet. When he could finally see again, the first thing he saw was his little Troublemaker holding some crayon with an incredibly proud smile on her face. 

“Good morning Trouble, what kind of mischief have you been making” James asked, picking her up and setting her down on his lap.

“I dw-aw Daddy! I dw-aw!” Harriet exclaimed, showing him the marker.

“You drew? Oh that lovely sweetheart, show Daddy what you drew”

“I dw-aw Daddy!”

It wasn’t until James noticed the type marker she was holding and the fact that there was no paper with any drawings around him that he understood the meaning of her words. Now that he was a bit more awake, he could smell the permanent marker surrounding the nursery and see that his nose was now a green-purple colour.

“Right,” he said, looking at Remus and Sirius who were practically pissing themselves laughing in the corner “Who gave Harry the permanent marker”

Neither of them were able to reply, to busy laughing themselves silly until Sirius managed to wheeze out something that sounded vaguely like “Marlene”.

“Sirius, Marley isn’t even here right now!”

“Uncle Padfoot!” Harriet suddenly chirped, getting up from James’ lap and waddled over to Sirius. 

“Noooo! Nugget, no, it was Uncle Moony who gave you the marker, remember?” Sirus said, scooting away when the toddler tried to give back the marker.

Remus and James lost it when Sirius got up and started running around the room, laughing like maniacs while Padfoot was trying to avoid the toddler. Jame ended up tackling Sirius and pinning his legs down while Remus got his arms. 

“Harriet, I think uncle Padfoot wants you to give him a mustache!” 

9h12 am

After Harriet finished her masterpiece on Sirius, she felt that Uncle Moony needed to join in on the fun too. So she chased Remus around, laughing in delight the entire time knowing her three favorite people loved her so much to play games with her. After she found everyone was thoroughly covered in marker, James decided it was probably time to feed Harriet. He was really surprised that she hadn’t been asking for food yet, what with being awake for a solid 3 hours, so he picked her up airplane style and ‘flew’ her over to the kitchen.

“Alright, what would Harriet like for breakfast thing morning,” James asked, placing her in her high chair and looking around the cupboard for some food. 

“Cupcake!” She answered excitedly, uncle Padfoot had brought home cupcakes last night and she had absolutely loved them. 

“Sorry Pumpkins, cupcakes are for evening treats, not breakfast”

“Cupcakes for breakfast!” Sirius shouted, running into the kitchen like an excited toddler would when seeing an ice cream truck. 

“Remus! Control your boyfriend!”

“James! Control your brother!” 

Groaning, James got Harriet breakfast ready, making sure she didn't make a mess of the cereal and began making breakfast for Remus, Sirius and him. (Because apparently out of the three adults living in this flat, he was the only one who actually knew how to cook) 

“I’m HEREEEE!” The front door slammed open and in came Marlene dragging a very tired looking Lily with her. “And I brought Lily!!”

“Lilykins! You’re back from your trip!” Sirius shouted from the kitchen, rushing to the door and attacking her in a great bear hug.

“Hello Sirius” Lily said, obviously tired but still putting on a smile, “Do I even want to know why all three of you are covered in marker?”

“Harriet pulled her first prank today! I got the whole thing on video! Come, I’ll show you” He said excitedly, dashing out of the entrance hall and ran to the nursery to get his phone. 

“JAMIEEEE darling” Marlene shouted in a sweet voice walking, into the dining area “JayJay, my favourite cousin in the whole world, I’ve missed you so-”

“Yes Marley, I’ll make you breakfast” James signed, already knowing what she wanted; after all his cooking was probably the only reason she ever actually visited… Oh and Harriet of course.

“You’re the best! Now, where’s my little Harriet?” She asked, spotting Harry reaching out to her in the high chair and making a move to pick her up.

“Oh no you don’t Mckinnon! She’s my goddaughter!” Sirius rushed into the room, picked up Harriet and made a dash for the lounge, Marlene hot on his heels.

“She’s my goddaughter to you bloody dog!”

“Sirius, I swear to all that is good if you drop my kid again!”

“So Lily, how was your trip?”

Lily turned to Remus who was vigorously rubbing his face with a wet cloth, trying to get the marker off. 

“Oh it was absolutely beautiful, I got so many pictures of the Palmengarten  
flower garden. The only thing is Marlene kept me up most of last night to fill me in on what I missed, so I didn’t get much sleep.”

After the “James and Lily surprise encounter” as Marlene liked to call it, Lily realized just how much she was missing while away on her trips. She was so focused on her work that she didn’t really bother updating herself on the big changes in other people lives. Now, she asked Marlene to fully update her on everything she missed while away on her work trips, but Marlene’s need to give excessive detail drove the conversation late into the night and often left Lily with little sleep. 

Remus seemed to have noticed this, fetching some tea and a couple of painkillers for her.

“Thank you” Lily smiled kindly, taking the tea and medicine.

“No problem, you’re going to need them if you plan on staying a while”

Just as he said that Sirius came back, bursting in the kitchen, Harriet on his shoulders who was giggling madly, while trying to escape Marlene.

“Let me hold her, you bleeding–“

“MARLEY!” 

“Donkey! I was going to say donkey!”

Lily continued to watch Sirius, Harriet and Marlene run around the flat while Remus set off to help James with breakfast. Speaking of James, their relationship had been.... complicated? If there even was a relationship to begin with. They had set up a ‘date’ a few days after she had called but surprisingly things hadn’t taken off as well as Lily expected. The date itself was a huge hit, it’s what came after that made things a little rockier. Lily’s boss had sent her on a 2 week trip to France to interview some Uni students with a couple other coworkers. In those two weeks, she was stomped with so much work that she hadn’t managed to call James once to make plans for another date. While she felt bad at first, Remus told her that James was also flooded with work as well, so much so that he had barely seen any sign of life from him other than when he was playing with Harriet. 

There was also the fact that James still wasn’t over the “crazy ex” situation. She didn't blame him, not at all, after Marlene had told her the story Lily understood she may have to take things slow with James. He had bigger priorities to take care of, like a daughter, that he had to consider before fully jumping into a relationship and Lily admired that about him. 

“BREAKFAST IS READY” James hollered from the small kitchen and in an instant, everyone was up getting their plates ready. Harriet was in Marlene's arms, laughing with her godmother happily until she got whiff of Lily.

Harriet doesn’t like Lily much.

The second Harriet saw Lily her smile immediately vanished and she started calling for James. 

“Marley, what did you do to my kid?" James asked jokingly, picking up with daughter and cradling her in his chest. 

“I didn't do anything! I just walked in and she got all fussy!” Marlene protested, handing over Harriet to James the second she started fussing, there was no way in hell she was dealing with a Potter Tantrum at this hour. 

“It’s cause she saw Lily was here, she doesn’t like it when she has to fight for James’ attention,” Sirius said, shoving his mouth with food. 

James winced slightly, he knew Harriet didn't like Lily very much, always holding an attitude with her whenever she came by the flat with Marley but he would have thought she’d get over it. Apparently, he underestimated just how stubborn Harry could be. 

“It’s not that she doesn’t like you, Lily, it's just that she needs to get used to you” James tried to explain, it was true, Harriet typically didn’t like being around new people but she had known Lily for more than a year! 

“James, you’re not fooling anyone, I know Harriet isn’t exactly fond of me, there no reason to beat around the bush” Lily had known about Harriet’s distaste for her since the moment she arrived at James’ flat for their date. James had left Harriet in the care of Remus and Sirius but she wasn’t having any of it. The moment James stepped foot outside the flat she began crying, screaming, wailing, whatever you want to call, Lily had never heard a baby cry so loudly. Not to mention they weren’t able to find Harriet’s pacifier, so she just kept wailing until James gave in and picked her up.

From that moment on Harriet seem to hate Lily, not wanting her to take her dad away from her. 

“Well, she’s going to have to get used to being apart from James anyway, she’s going to start daycare soon isn't she?” Marlene said, not seeing the look of absolute horror on James' face.

“Daycare!?!” Harriet looked up started at her dad after his outburst, wondering if the odd red-haired lady said something to upset him.

Lily and Marlene both gave him odd looks while Remus and Sirius just rolled their eyes, they had already dealt with this type of situation and they didn’t feel like having to deal with ‘overdramatic James’ again. 

“Yes James, daycare, you know, that place you send your child during the day so you can go to work.” Malene rolled her eyes, she had tried talking James into sending Harriet to daycare once and the results weren’t the prettiest. 

“Why on earth would I send her to daycare when there are plenty of people who would love to watch her during the day!” When Jame was first learning how to take care of Harriet, he had more help and support from his friends and family than he ever could have asked for. Remus and Sirius were more than happy to take some days off from work to watch Harriet, same with Regulus. His parents were probably the biggest help though, they were at the flat every other day helping him learn how to be a proper parent and babysat for him whenever he needed someone to look after Harry. 

“James, I am very aware that Harriet’s cuteness has gotten her more than enough babysitter, I should know, I’m one of them, but don’t you think she should learn to interact with other kids her age?”

“What do you mean? She’s perfectly capable of playing with kids her age! In fact, just the other day Sirius, mum and I took her to the park and she was more then Happy to play with the other kids.” He remembered it had been his mother suggested to let Harriet get some fresh air and the 3 of them though it appropriate weather for a quick picnic.

“James, she ran off with Sirius to go play in the structure and came back crying 2 minutes later when a kid asked what her name was.” By now Marlene was exasperated, looking to the others for support but they were all too busy eating their breakfast, traitors.

“A very good skill to have! She knows not to talk to strangers!” By now James was hugging Harriet protectively as if Marlene would steal her a whisk her off to daycare, He knew she had a point but he wasn’t willing to let some random stranger watch over his daughter. 

“James the kid was probably no more than 3! He just wanted to play! Listen, if you want to be stubborn then fine, but for Harriet’s sake James, just consider it, please?” Marlene knew it was hard for James to let go of Harriet but she wasn’t going to stay little forever.

James looked down to where Harriet was happily drooling on his shirt, giggling at the feeling of his hands running through her hair. She was still so little, there was no way she was ready for something as big as daycare! 

“I’ll think about it” 

1h44 pm 

James had been mentally battling himself all day and he was starting to get a headache. While he knew there was some truth to Marlene's words, James just couldn’t find it in himself to let his precious little nugget go. As much as he tried to convince himself that Harriet wasn’t ready for daycare, he knew deep down that wasn't the case. In reality, it was the fact that James refuses to accept Harriet was growing, first daycare, then reception and in the blink of an eye she’ll have graduated and be off to Uni on the other side of the world and leave him foreve-

“James? Are you alright?” Lily asked, peeking her head through the door. She hadn’t seen any sign of him since breakfast. At first, she assumed he was working but now she was getting a bit worried, he had an odd look on his face as if he was in pain without anyone physically touching him.

“Lily! I- um- Ya! I’m fine, Great in fact!” His hand immediately jumped to his hair, whether because he was anxious or because of Lily Evans, he wasn’t sure yet. “Oh! Look at the time! I should probably go put Harriet down for her nap”

He got up in one swift motion and was about to make a dash for the door when Lily stopped him.

“James, Sirius put Harriet in her crib 30 minutes ago for her nap, what’s got you all jumpy like this?” It took Lily a while to get used to nervous James vs cocky arrogant James, the transition in her head seemed almost impossible but experiencing it first hand was a different story. “Is it about what Marlene said? At breakfast?”

“I-No, it’s not... Okay maybe a little” He flopped back on the bed. James knew there was no point in lying, if Lily felt that he was acting odd then she probably would have told the others and the four of them combined would definitely have been able to squeeze the answer out of him. 

“You know she didn’t mean it in a bad way, she was just making a point. Harriet’s going to have to start school at some point, this will just get her used to being away for the day.” Lily sat next to him on the bed trying her best to point out the positives in sending Harriet to daycare.

“I know it’s just- On one hand I want her to learn to play with other kids and get along with them, but on the other hand I want to keep her locked away from all danger by keeping her safe in my arms forever.” He said in one breath, running both hands through his hair as if he was about to pull it out.

“I’m pretty sure those are normal things to feel when being a parent, James. Besides, no ones forcing you to put her in daycare, if you want to wait a little longer then that’s fine, all Marlene was saying, or suggesting, is that you consider it.” Lily knew sugar-coating an unavoidable situation probably wasn’t the best idea but she believed it’s what James needed right now. “What if you asked your parents for some advice? We both know they’d be more than thrilled to help you.”

“I did. Talked to them for a bit over the phone earlier, it did help I will admit, they told me they felt the same on my first day of school, the only difference is my first day of school happened when I was eleven.” He still remembers it so clearly, his father was trying so hard not to cry while his mother physically restrained him in hugs so he wouldn’t get on the train. 

“Wait, what? You didn't go to any type of public or private school before Hogwarts?” I guess you learn something new every day, Lily thought.

“Mum and dad hired personals tutors so I could be schooled from home. Dad say’s it was because that’s what his parents did to him as a boy and the education proved beneficial but really he was the one teaching me half the time. Mum said it’s because she couldn’t be bothered to answers all the call or letter she would receive when I misbehave.” He laughed, his parents took the meaning ‘overprotective’ to a whole other level and he loved it. 

“Right, so maybe that’s not the best example to take from” Lily laughed with him, she knew Mr and Mrs Potter quite well and that does seem like something they would do. 

“Ya but I understand why they did it, primarily it’s because they didn’t trust anyone but themselves and people they knew to take care of me or teach me. Dad did mostly the sciences, chemistry specifically since he was best at it. Mum did English, literature, everything having to do with reading, writing, and all that other stuff. I had a few other people teach me other things like, Minnie came over to the manor when she could and did some math with me-”

“Wait, Minnie? As in Professor McGonagall?”

“Ya, she and mum were good friends, still are, she asked auntie Minnie if she was willing to teach me a bit. She regret saying ‘yes’ two days later. Drove her mad, I did, worse bit is she didn't even get rid of me until graduation.” 

“Auntie Minnie?” She gave him an amused look “Bet it didn’t take long for Sirius to jump on that train” 

James barked out a laugh and whipped his eyes under his glasses “Great gods you should have seen the look on her face the first time he called her Minnie, bloody hilarious it was, obviously she blamed me for it so we both got in trouble but it was worth it. “

James and Lily continued to talk about memories from Hogwarts and whatnot, simply laughing at the fun things they forgot in the mess that came after graduation and James realized how incredibly calming Lily’s presence was to him. He didn’t feel nervous or jittery with her sitting next to him. His Hogwarts self would probably be pissing himself with happiness at the thought of Lily Evans enjoying a conversation with him. Guess that just proves how much things can change in the course on only a few years and that maybe ‘change’ isn’t as bad as he thought. 

3h41 pm

The rest of the day was simply spent watching movies and relaxing at the flat. Everything seemed so busy in the outside world that they all agreed a quiet afternoon wouldn’t hurt. By the time they picked out the third movie, Harriet woke up from her and began calling for James. 

“Well, that’s my cue,” James said, untangling his legs from Lily’s and walking over to the nursery. It was common knowledge that most toddlers woke up cranky, whether it was from a nap of a full night’s sleep and Harriet was no exception. If James wasn’t the first person she saw waking up she would lose it, crying and screaming for her dad. 

When he walked into the nursery he saw Harriet sitting in her crib, sucking on her dummy, hair sticking out in every direction possible with a tired/confused look on her face. James couldn’t help the smile stretching across his face; he didn’t know what it was but just looking at his little Troublemaker made his hear swell.

“Hello there baby girl,” James smiled, laughing when she giggled back at him, showing him her little dimples. “did you have a good nap?”

Wrapping her up in her blanket, he picked her up and sat down on the rocking chair. He really hoped that as she got older, they would still be able to have this type of cuddle time. Where they could both just relax and enjoy some quiet time together. As much as James didn’t want to accept the fact that his little girl was growing up, she was and rather quickly at that.

Harriet started gurgling in his arms, her dummy was stopping her from saying full words but he knew better than to take it out of her mouth without her permission.

“Princess, do papa a favour and stay little forever, yes? Good.” Harriet didn’t have the slightest idea what her dad was talking about, she was just giggling at the fleeing of him playing with her hair. She absolutely loved moments like this, when it was just the two of them and she had all James’ attention. Although she didn’t understand what he was saying, his chest was making a funny rumblings sound which made her laugh. 

“Daddy! I low-ve Daddy!” Harry cheered quietly, the dummy falling our of her mouth. 

James froze completely and immediately stopped rocking the cair. Had she just said that? Or did he just imagine? Was he going crazy? Honestly, considering the people he hung out with, he wouldn’t be surprised.

“What was that Trouble? Can you say that again?” 

“I lowve you, Daddy!” Harriet said again and James' heart soared. It was the first time Harry had ever said she loved him and while he knew she did without her having to say it, hearing it was enough to make him cry. 

“I love you too my little Troublemaker,” James murmured in her hair quietly, not bothering to stop the flow of tears streaming down his cheeks “More than life itself my darling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I couldn’t get enough of baby Harriet and James, in the next chapter I’ll probably have some Lily/Harry bonding time.


End file.
